The World Bank Group works with countries in Europe and Central Asia to help improve people's lives and achieve shared prosperity in a variety of ways, including through financial lending and analytical and advisory services. Our work aims to help countries achieve better competitiveness, more inclusive growth, and to adapt to climate change and improve energy efficiency.
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In Poland, addressing the situation of
the remaining poor groups is likely to become much harder
over time as their problems are likely to be deeper and
their situa... Show More +tion more complex. A social inclusion approach
that tackles their multiple disadvantages will be needed.
This study aims to contribute to Poland's social
inclusion debate by providing policy makers and civil
society with evidence from the field about (1) what
population groups are currently 'socially
excluded;' (2) what are the driving factors of their
exclusion; and (3) the success and failure of current social
inclusion policies and programs. The ultimate goal of this
work is to make current social inclusion interventions more
effective by learning from what has been tried. The findings
are particularly relevant now that a new EU funding cycle
has started, with part of the funds earmarked for tackling
social inclusion. The study was conducted in three regions:
Malopolskie, Podkarpackie, and Mazowieckie (in Radom County
only). The first two are among Poland's poorest regions
in terms of income poverty. The part of Mazowieckie in which
the research was conducted also has a higher than average
poverty rate; in addition, the unemployment rate there (31
percent) is much greater than the national average (about 13
percent in 2013). Capitals of the other two regions were
excluded from the research. Show Less -

Since joining the Bologna process in
2005, the Armenian government and higher education
institutions have made significant progress in reforming the
higher educatio... Show More +n system. Despite reforms, the public
perception of higher education governance and management is
poor. Reasons for the poor public perception of higher
education governance are primarily embedded in system-wide
factors. Recent research has identified a governance
structure and regulatory framework as key to the development
of overall higher education systems. The study finds that
underperformance of the higher education system is
associated with a legal framework that lacks coherence and
the entire system lacks capacity to effectively exercise
autonomy and accountability. Show Less -

This review provides a discussion of
challenges faced by Romania as a results of reforms, policy
changes, growth in enrollment, among others, and provides
policy op... Show More +tions on how to tackle them. The review focuses on
the higher education sector as a whole and how it is managed
as a system by the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth
and Sport (MERYS). The team assessed how the system is
structured, led and managed by MERYS and not how each and
every university is structured, led and managed internally.
Some internal issues that confront higher education
institutions were, however, reviewed since they are common
to so many institutions that, by reason of commonality, they
deserve to be addressed so that the Ministry can develop
appropriate responses. The report includes a large number of
findings, conclusions and recommendations. Some of the
findings and conclusions require no recommendations. They
indicate that the review team is happy with what it found in
specific areas and they are included in the report since the
team was required to cover these areas and since the team
wants to give credit where credit is due. There are other
findings and conclusions, indicating areas where improvement
is necessary and possible and the team is providing
recommendations, but on their own, are not likely to bring
about major improvement; then, there are findings and
conclusions in areas where the team believes that the
potential for the greatest impact lies. Show Less -

This report follows the first report
delivered by the Bank team in October 2010 under the
Functional Analysis of the Pre-university education that
focused on the ca... Show More +pacity within the Ministry and its main
agencies at the central level to meet the strategic
objectives of the sector. This second report summarizes a
review of the delivery of education services at sub-national
levels, focusing on the county inspectorate offices, the
schools and the county and local authorities. The main
chapters include: (i) the objectives of decentralization and
the extent of consensus around them, (ii) the roles assigned
to the key players at the local level as well as the MERYS
in relation to them, (iii) the fiscal arrangements
underpinning the decentralized system and (iv) the capacity
to decentralize both at the local level and at the Ministry. Show Less -

This report follows the first report
delivered by the Bank team in October 2010 under the
Functional Analysis of the Pre-university education that
focused on the ca... Show More +pacity within the Ministry and its main
agencies at the central level to meet the strategic
objectives of the sector. This second report summarizes a
review of the delivery of education services at sub-national
levels, focusing on the county inspectorate offices, the
schools and the county and local authorities. The main
chapters include: (i) the objectives of decentralization and
the extent of consensus around them, (ii) the roles assigned
to the key players at the local level as well as the MERYS
in relation to them, (iii) the fiscal arrangements
underpinning the decentralized system and (iv) the capacity
to decentralize both at the local level and at the Ministry. Show Less -

Romania's ability to compete in the
global market for goods and services will depend on its
ability to transform itself into a knowledge-based economy.
This depends... Show More + on having a highly skilled workforce, which
depends, in turn, on the relevance and quality of the
education received by its children. The challenge is to
bring the level of achievement of Romanian children in key
subjects, such as mathematics, science, and reading
comprehension in mother tongue - to current levels found in
most European countries. Substantial investment of funds in
the education sector has not produced the desired results
because of a failure to concurrently improve utilization and
efficiency. The Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and
Sport (MERYS) has been trying hard to improve education in
terms of both relevance and quality. It has considerably
increased its investments in the education system in recent
years. However, the increase in expenditure did not result
in improved learning. In the past four years the Ministry
has drafted several versions of a new Education bill
containing very ambitious strategies that aim indeed at
fundamentally changing the way the education system
operates, but this has not yet been enacted into law by
Parliament. It is important to note, however, that the
implementation of the Ministry's ambitious strategy is
dependent not only on changes in the education law and on
factors that are within its own control, but also on factors
that are beyond its control - particularly general civil
service and Ministry of Finance rules relating to the
structuring and staffing of ministries and the management of
financial resources respectively. Show Less -

This report analyzes the public
expenditures of the education sector in Poland, with special
interest in uncovering trends overtime, establishing
international comp... Show More +arisons to benchmark Poland's fiscal
efforts in education, and linking those expenditures to the
outcomes of the education system. The report then presents a
set of concrete policy options to improve the effectiveness
and the efficiency of the education expenditures in Poland.
The report highlights areas where improvement in the quality
of expenditures can be achieved. For example, while
Poland's student population in primary and secondary
education continues to fall, the number of teachers has not
followed the same trend as the demographic shift in the
student population. There are inflexibilities in the
management and deployment of teachers that have made this
adjustment difficult. Incentives for local governments,
which manage basic education, to quickly adjust the teaching
force to demographic changes by consolidating schools and
classrooms would liberate significant resources to increase
the availability of financial resources to be used in
non-recurrent, quality-enhancing investments in the
education sector. Some specific budget management
suggestions as well as the need for developing indicative
standards for service delivery as a tool to determine the
overall cost for delivering the educational service, are
presented among the policy options that this paper outlines. Show Less -

This Education Sector Study (ESS) is the
World Bank's response to the need for a comprehensive
study of Turkey's education system, in light of the
dramatic changes ... Show More +that are sure to alter the country's
social and economic landscape over the next decade. The
study was prepared in association with the Education Reform
Initiative of the Istanbul Policy Center on the basis of
research and dialogue with a wide array of education
stakeholders and actors. The overall objective of the ESS is
to provide an assessment of current challenges to the
education system in Turkey and identify policy options that
can complement the country's existing pre-tertiary
education strategy. Volume one provides a complete
description of challenges, conclusions, and policy options
for the reform of pre-school, primary, and secondary
education. It includes an Annex that summarizes the research
studies and policy notes commissioned to inform the report.
Volume II is a collection of the complete research studies
and policy notes commissioned for the ESS report. Show Less -

This Education Sector Study (ESS) is the
World Bank's response to the need for a comprehensive
study of Turkey's education system, in light of the
dramatic changes ... Show More +that are sure to alter the country's
social and economic landscape over the next decade. The
study was prepared in association with the Education Reform
Initiative of the Istanbul Policy Center on the basis of
research and dialogue with a wide array of education
stakeholders and actors. The overall objective of the ESS is
to provide an assessment of current challenges to the
education system in Turkey and identify policy options that
can complement the country's existing pre-tertiary
education strategy. Volume one provides a complete
description of challenges, conclusions, and policy options
for the reform of pre-school, primary, and secondary
education. It includes an Annex that summarizes the research
studies and policy notes commissioned to inform the report.
Volume II is a collection of the complete research studies
and policy notes commissioned for the ESS report. Show Less -

The polish tertiary education report was
undertaken by the World Bank and the European Investment
Bank in consultation with the Ministry of National Education
and S... Show More +ports of Poland (MoNES). The modernization of higher
education and other tertiary education services has become
an increasing focus of public concern in Poland. A major
purpose of the report is to discuss important issues in
Polish tertiary education and to focus on policies to
improve the quality and accessibility of educational
services. Section one of this report summarizes the key
trends in the development of tertiary education in Poland
since the beginning of the 1990s, including the evolving
legal framework and the principal outcomes of a decade of
reform. Section two focuses on the major outstanding issues
today with respect to the financing of tertiary education,
quality assurance, linkages to science and research, and the
business community together with the need for Poland to
build capacity for, and implement, a comprehensive lifelong
learning system. Section three presents some promising
policy options and suggests specific reform measures for
consideration by policy makers in Poland. Show Less -